Kat had come to the cabin to escape. To escape the city with its traffic and noise. To escape her mother with the constant questions of when she would settle down and start a family. To escape everyone else’s needs and focus on her own. She was a workaholic, a people pleaser, and the person who couldn’t say no. So this week was hers in solitude, at a getaway far to the north and outside of cell service.
While it did at least have the amenity of running water, the cabin had no electricity. This meant that her laptop had to stay at home and her cell phone would be used minimally since it had to be charged in the car. She would keep herself occupied with puzzles, outdoor hikes, and quick trips into town if she needed anything.
As you can imagine the first few days were great, she felt more relaxed and energized than ever, but it didn’t last long. By day 4 Kat was beginning to desire the company of others. To hear about their lives and compare their days to her own. She started to think about her mother and the woman’s desire for her to settle down. Maybe a little romance in her life wouldn’t be so bad. But to leave early was not an option. She was determined to make it the full week, so she set aside her thoughts and went into town.
There wasn’t much available besides the local tavern, a gas stations, and the small family own grocery. It was at this last place that she found what she hoped would be her salvation. They had a nice selection of books. Mysteries and thrillers were her favorite, but they also had a large selection of romance. A trashy romance might just be what she needed. She picked up one where the cover featured a long haired lumberjack with his flannel shirt open in the front. The damsel had a lacy dress with the sleeve falling low enough to reveal not only her should but a generous portion of her bosom. Rolling her eyes and laughing to herself, she picked up the book along with a couple mysteries and thrillers to take back with her.
This did the trick, the books kept her engrossed. The mysteries and thrillers were her preferred genre so she started with those. Day after day she read from sun up to sun down. She only took a break to eat and enjoy a hike once a day. With 3 days left of her week away she felt completely put at ease, except that the only book left to her was the trashy romance.
She had bought it for a reason and decided to give it a try. At first she found it comical. It was a classic trope, the way the man and the woman behaved and acted towards each other. She was absorbed, at least at first. As the book kept moving she found herself more and more annoyed. The woman in the story didn’t seem capable of doing anything and the man spent more time flexing his muscles than serving a purpose. About half way through she gave up, disgusted, and threw the book across the room, before leaving for an evening walk.
Now had she stayed, she might have been able to stop what happened next. The book had landed on the wood pile right next to the fire place. A fire place that periodically threw sparks and it just so happened that one of these sparks landed on the open page. As you can imagine it ignited and flamed up, but curiously only for a brief moment until it fizzled out leaving a trail of smoke. If she had stayed she would have seen the words around the singe mark start to run together as though they were becoming liquid and running into a pool.
It was this pool of ink that started to bubble, no boil, until once again smoke began to venture forth followed by a tendril. This tendril thickened and hardened and continued to grow until it became a vine with smaller tendrils growing off of it. It was one of these smaller vines that produced the pod. The pod was about 6 feet in height and 3 feet in diameter at its widest. It stood straight and tall until it started to open.
It was about 1 hour after the opening of the pod that Kat returned home to find the unimaginable mess in her home. She couldn’t imagine where it had come from. The plant looked dead, what had probably been green at one point, was now brown and dehydrated. The roots, which looked to start at the wood pile, were shriveled and exposed. She could also see what remained of the book woven into the roots and completely decimated. As she took it in she became concerned about the track of pollen that seemed to move away, towards the back porch, in a distinct and direct path. She followed it.
It led right to the back door, which hung open a crack. She pushed it, letting it swing open fully before she ventured outside to find him. He was leaning against the railing with his flannel shirt open to reveal his chest. The muscles looked painted on beneath the perfect cover of chest hair. The shirt had the sleeves ripped off at the shoulders to reveal his arms. One was wrapped around the porch post allowing him to flex. He was a sight to be seen, with perfect eyes burning a hole right through her. She felt like the woman on the cover and wanted to reveal a little more skin to be just as enticing. But then it happened. A breeze lifted up off the water. He reached up and released his long hair from the clasp that held it and then looked into the wind, shaking out his locks to be teased by air. That was the moment, she rolled her eyes and walked back into the house slamming the door behind her. She was crazy, too much solitude had led her to this, and while he was pretty she didn’t need another high maintenance person in her life. The week was over, she would hire someone to come clean the mess and hope that HE just disappeared on his own. But just in case she would leave word in the town that someone should check on him. Maybe they had a lace wearing girl that would be the perfect damsel for novel romance.
K. L. Kent Author 